Addressing The Daily’s Coverage of The Daily’s Apology
Yesterday, The Daily was not the paper that white journalists in their 50’s deserved.
On Nov. 10, amid a genuine attempt to apologize for harassing minority students, we seem to have offended every single Caucasian with a press pass in a one-hundred-mile radius. Apparently, this admittedly confusing attempt at empathy was akin to murdering journalism in cold blood, burying it, then taking a gigantic shit on its grave. We recognize that we contributed to the harm random bald dudes on Twitter experienced, and we wanted to apologize for and address the mistakes that we made that night – along with how we plan to move forward.
One area of our reporting that harmed many Boomers was how we single-handedly annihilated the concept of the free press by admitting we, as student journalists developing a new skill, may have made a mistake. Some alumni who now spend their time making quizzes for Buzzfeed about what kind of toaster you are based on your star sign found the words we said traumatizing. On one hand, as Northwestern’s primary student-run newspaper, we want to ensure that we don’t actively marginalize minorities on this campus to get a cool story; but on the other hand, we want to make sure we didn’t get absolutely ripped to shreds by elderly keyboard warriors bravely going after college students just trying to make things right.
We realize now that we were wrong to reach out to people we may have harmed, and that we should never ever be hired because of it. College is not a place to grow and learn while making amends for mistakes we may have made, it is and should be a cold, professional world where we cut throats for every story, have no room for error, and most importantly, reinforce the systematic marginalization of our peers.
Through our coverage, we know random people on the internet to be passionate, thoughtful and just. Every day, we strive to do the most to help paint a fair picture of nuanced issues so that you can read the title and comment anyway.
Sincerely,
Eat Piss Play Love, Sherman Ave
Lil Inherited Trauma, Sherman Ave
